Kuwaiti police and U.S. military investigators are hunting for the culprits behind an ambush that killed an American working at a U.S. base in Kuwait where Washington is preparing for a possible war on Iraq.Michael Rene Pouliot, 46, a civilian contractor working for the U.S. military, was killed on Tuesday when his vehicle was peppered with automatic rifle fire on a road near Camp Doha, the main U.S. army base in Kuwait.

Another U.S. contractor was wounded and was being treated in hospital in Kuwait City.

The United States embassy condemned the shooting as a terrorist attack. It was the third time since October that Americans have been killed or injured in attacks in Kuwait.

Kuwait's Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said a link to Iraq or al Qaeda could not be ruled out.

A U.S. military statement said the U.S. Criminal Investigation Command was working with Kuwaiti authorities to investigate the attack.

American Military Build up Continues

More than 15,000 U.S. soldiers are in Kuwait and more are arriving every week ahead of a possible war with Iraq. The military also employs a large number of U.S. civilian contractors to help run its camps.

Last November, a Kuwaiti policeman shot and seriously wounded two U.S. soldiers on a highway south of Kuwait City and the previous month two Kuwaitis attacked U.S. Marines training on an island, killing one. There have also been several reports of shots fired at U.S. troops training in the Kuwaiti desert.

Earlier this week Kuwaiti officials said they had arrested a Kuwaiti soldier suspected of spying for Iraq. Kuwaiti newspapers have said the man had been plotting attacks on U.S. targets in Kuwait, including a possible attempt to poison U.S. troops.

Many Kuwaitis -- and other Arabs -- are angry at the United States for its support for Israel against the Palestinians and policies in the region. Kuwait also has a vocal Islamist opposition

PHOTO CAPTION

A Kuwaiti policeman looks at the bullet-ridden windshield on a road where attackers ambushed and shot dead a U.S. defense department civilian employee and wounded another in Kuwait City January 21, 2003. The United States embassy condemned the incident as a terrorist attack. It was the third time since October that Americans have been killed or injured in attacks in Kuwait. (Ali Al-Roumi/KUNA via Reuters)